Sunday, August 16, 2009

$8 billion - just for 'cap-and-trade' staffing

(Analyst's Note: Funny how the billions add up! All the new jobs are in the Federal Government. This "administrative cost" will be small compared to the management of health care for millions of Americans. )

A senior policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation believes "cap-and-trade" legislation will increase an already bloated federal government.

David Kreutzer tells OneNewsNow that if cap-and-trade legislation -- sometimes referred to as "energy ration and tax" by opponents -- passes the Senate, it will add more than $8 billion in additional government staff.


"This is not the cost to the economy from the higher energy prices -- that's much, much higher; that will be thousands of dollars per family...$9.4 trillion over the first 24 years," Kreutzer explains. "The eight billion [dollars] is just for the staff in Washington to handle the paperwork."

Obama seeks to track visits to .gov websites

(Analyst's Notes: Must Read. Not long ago there was a massive outcry over NSA tapping national telephones. Lets see how much concern there is when the White House itself is spying on Americans. The only motives for the WH also to be involved have to be POLITICAL - not national security. That is a big difference! Where is it stored? Where is it shared?)

WASHINGTON – The Barack Obama administration has announced plans to lift a government ban on tracking visitors to government websites, and potentially, collect their personal data through the use of "cookies" – an effort some suspect may already be in place on White House sites.

A ban on such tracking by the federal government on Internet users has been in place since 2000, however, the White House Office of Management and Budget now wants to lift the ban citing a "compelling need."

In fact, according to the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, federal agencies have already negotiated agreements and contracts with social networking sites like Google, YouTube, SlideShare, Facebook, AddThis, Blist, Flickr and VIMEO to collect information on visitors for federal web sites. All of these private companies are known to have agreements with federal agencies, but the public has never seen them.

In public comments submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, EPIC notes it has obtained documents that show federal agencies have negotiated these contracts with the private sector in violation of "existing statutory privacy rights." Those agencies include: Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the National Security Agency.

There are suspicions the White House is already involved.

When White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was recently asked by Fox News reporter Major Garrett why Americans who had not signed up to receive any e-mails from the White House, were now receiving e-mails from White House adviser David Axelrod promoting President Obama's health care plan, Gibbs refused to answer the question.

"The Obama administration's favorite book seems to be '1984' by George Orwell," said Brad O’Leary, publisher of The O'Leary Report monthly newsletter and author of "Shut Up, America: The End of Free Speech." "Only they don't see '1984' as a warning, but rather a blueprint for spying on every American who visits a government website – something that has been banned for nearly a decade."

According to Obama "technology czar" Vivek Kundra, the "compelling need" driving this major policy reversal is the administration's desire to create "more open" government and to "enhance citizen participation in government."

O'Leary finds serious fault with Kundra's rationale.

"According to the new technology czar, there is a 'compelling need' to do this," said O'Leary. "The only compelling need I can think of is for a failing Obama administration to compile an enemy list of gun owners, pro-lifers, tea-party participants, those opposed to illegal immigration, and anyone opposed to the Obama-Pelosi agenda of government control over Americans' lives."

Spy cookies can do more than merely recall the user names and passwords of visitors who return to their favorite web sites. They can also track, retrieve and report selected movements someone makes on the Internet. Through the use of cookies, the federal government could have the power to create an individual profile of anyone who visits a government website – right down to a person's recent online purchases, or even race, gender and income level.

"No matter what the Obama administration says, a 'cookie' is a spy device," said O’Leary. "No matter how inoffensive the administration says their spy devices will be, once you open the door to the federal government spying on every American who visits a government website, it can't be closed – it can only be expanded."

According to O'Leary, if the Obama administration is successful in lifting this ban on federal privacy invasion, the lives of many Americans could become open books for bureaucrats.

"What if a harmless trip to the State Department's travel website or the White House's health care site, the Census Bureau's web site results in the Obama administration's discovery that you are someone who recently visited Cabela's, Smith and Wesson, or a tea party or pro-life web site?" asked O'Leary. "Is this all mundane information that political animals in government don't care about? Of course not. You might sooner expect a visit from Obama's IRS or Homeland Security than a pat on the back for 'participating' in government."

O'Leary says that it is time for Congress to step in and pass legislation to protect the privacy rights of Americans who could fall victim to White House spy cookies.

"Because of the lack of transparency from the Obama White House, we are filing FOIA requests to determine exactly how these agencies are using spy cookies," said O'Leary.

Shocker: Sharia fails to deliver equality, accountability in northern Nigeria

(Analyst Note-LC: Here are some practical examples of how sharia law works in the real world.)

"Equality," of course, can only mean the equal accountability of Muslim men before the law, because Sharia is not designed to provide the same for women or unbelievers. And by their nature, theocracies do not lend themselves to accountability due to the sense of entitlement to rule, and the paternalistic "government knows best" attitude that clerics and politicians can invoke holy writ to support.

Aside from that, two themes in this article are worth noting: The first is that it is the poor implementation of Sharia that is the root of the problem. Sharia's legitimacy cannot be questioned: It is "good" because divine law has to be good (otherwise, one has crafted a deity worthy of being portrayed on screen by John Malkovich), and of course, the deity in charge has the last word on goodness.

In a related vein, there is the unshakeable belief among Muslims in this article-- one that is widely transmitted to naïve multiculturalists in the West -- that the "good" Sharia has to be out there, somewhere. And maybe, if we try it here, this time will be the one that works; that assessment is always subject yet again to the circular reasoning described in the preceding paragraph.

The alternative, and more realistic assessment of the situation in Nigeria is that any implementation of Sharia -- even a supposedly diluted, de-fanged version -- is a slippery slope toward the rest of the package: Theocratic systems do not lend themselves to partial implementation, and despite the fact that its supporters act as though there is nothing inherently wrong with the system, any Sharia is a ticking time bomb for civil rights and liberties -- because after all, the people in power are in agreement that it is "good."

And at the end of the day, power corrupts. So it should be no surprise that Sharia has only shifted around corruption in northern Nigeria rather than solving it.

"In Nigeria, Sharia Fails to Deliver," by Karin Brulliard for the Washington Post, August 12:

KANO, Nigeria -- As military rule ended in Nigeria a decade ago, an Islamic legal system was swept into place on a wave of popular support in the country's desperately poor and mostly Muslim northern states. It has turned out in a way few expected.
The draconian amputation sentences warned of by human rights activists and the religious oppression feared by Christians have mostly not come to pass. But neither has the utopia envisioned by backers of sharia law, who believed politicians' promises that it would end decades of corruption and pillaging by civilian and military rulers. The people are still poor and miserable, residents complain, and politicians are still rich.

Mostly? Some would beg to differ. How much violent intolerance is trivial?

How the battles over sharia play out could have effects beyond Nigeria, a nation pivotal to West Africa's stability and viewed by the United States as key to stopping the spread of religious extremism in Africa. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to discuss the issue with Nigerian leaders on a visit to the country this week.
"People want sharia. But not this kind of sharia," said Ahmad Al-Khanawy, 41, a reed-thin filmmaker, adding that the most visible signs of Islamic law are new censorship rules banning dancing and singing in movies made in Kannywood, as this city's film industry is known. Sharia-promoting politicians, he said, "want to cover their failure by making noise about fighting immorality. That is it."
Nigeria's moderate form of sharia may not have delivered a Muslim revolution, but it has fueled a growing disillusionment that analysts say has weakened public faith in democracy -- and could, if unchecked, spark religious militancy. That prospect was highlighted last month when a radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram attacked security forces in northern Nigeria, triggering violence that killed more than 700 people. The group draws its members from the ranks of frustrated youths.

Hence the slippery slope: Partial Sharia is a foot in the door, creating an opening for the rest of it -- or else.

"Sharia is about justice. Where you have sharia, you have development," said Salisu Saidu, 32, standing amid the leather bags he sells in Kano's labyrinthine market. "Nothing has changed. If one relied on tap water, one would die of thirst. We don't even talk of electricity."
Islam has dominated in this region on the edge of the Sahara for centuries, in a tenuous coexistence with the Christianity that is prevalent in more prosperous southern Nigeria. When Kano and 11 other northern states that had long applied Islamic law to civil cases adopted sharia for criminal matters, clashes broke out between Christians and Muslims. Early on, several sentences of death by stoning for female adulterers -- never carried out -- and the amputation of two men's hands for theft drew international condemnation.

This is a pattern we have seen across the Islamic world. International scrutiny and bad press have a way of causing a temporary softening of Sharia for public consumption.


Friday, August 14, 2009

Obama Administration’s Decision to No Longer Wage War with Jihadists is a Dangerous Mistake

(Analyst's note: I recommend you read and consider this absolutely must read editorial. I agree with changing the name of "war on terrorism" - but lets at least identify the enemy. Politically correct speech simply does NOT cut it in a war do matter which political party engages in it. We all know it, so lets clearly state problem and get on with it. We shut them down in the early days of our country and we can must do it again.)

The Editors @ Family Security Matters

How can you be at war with al Qaeda and not state what al Qaeda's ideology is? It sounds like the architects of the new narrative have created a doctrine that doesn't add up.”

.... They say the doctrine is ‘to safeguard the American people from the transnational challenge that poses one of the greatest threats to our national security – the scourge of violent extremists who would use terrorism to slaughter Americans abroad and at home.’ What does that mean? Nothing. It is as if they speak in abstract. Which ‘transnational challenge is posing the greatest threat to U.S. national security?’ It is the global Jihadist threat, with its two networks, the Salafists and the Khomeinists, not the Nazis, the Soviet Communists or militaristic regimes. Why is the Obama administration regressing into a level way below what most educated Americans understand?

For additional clarity simply click here and listen to the audio.


National Guard preps for 'swine flu riot'

(Lewiston Sun Journal, Maine) The drill is to prepare for a worst-case scenario should the serum have to be transported from Augusta, Ga., and people rush to get it ...

Congressman: 'Socialistic elite' looking for excuse to declare martial law

(Athens Banner-Herald, Georgia) "This is a stinking, rotten fish, and they don't want you to smell it" ...

American Workers Replacing Illegal Workers at Poultry Plant

from NumbersUSA

You might remember this story about the Columbia Farms poultry plant in South Carolina that was convicted of not only hiring illegal aliens, but also of providing illegal aliens with false or forged identity documents. The plant owners, House of Raeford of Raeford, North Carolina, have not been charged with any crimes relating to the Columbia Farms plant, but they appear to have gotten the message that hiring illegal aliens is not only wrong, it's also illegal.

According to workers at a House of Raeford plant in Raeford, North Carolina, illegal workers have slowly been let go by the plant and have been replaced by unemployed Americans. Foreign (mostly illegal) labor once accounted for more than 80% of the labor at the poultry processing plant. Now, more than 70% of the employees are American.

Peter Anderson, a Charlotte attorney and candidate for U.S. Attorney in western North Carolina, said, "It's a smart decision for the company – even though they've been indicted – to do whatever they can … to comply with the law.... It sends the right message, that they've gotten the wake-up call." ....

No sex? No chow

.... Won't Sharia in the West be grand? ....

Unwinnable war in Afghanistan? Pat Buchanan: 'We shall pay a hellish price for the hubris of the nation-builders'

Pennsylvania Senate race: Toomey 48% vs. Specter 36% Voter opinion on Obamacare driving support for candidates

(Analyst's note: If you're up for reelection, you're out.)

Smooth-talking charlatans – then and now

(Analyst's note: Listen to your elders -- please. Absolutely must read and consider.)

by Bill Rouchell

I am 81 years old, and I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children and grandchildren as I am now.

This apostle of Machiavelli, this Obama a man who speaks with forked tongue. This charlatan campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure! We could then be call the United Union of Socialist States. God help us. Change is indeed coming, and when it comes, America will never be the same again!

Even when my wife and I lived in Germany for five years, I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking demagogue rabble-rouser from the streets of Munich, not too unlike the man from Chicago at the helm of our country today. The average German knew next to nothing about him. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and without a teleprompter. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. People, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission.

Are we headed for a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss? Find out in "Defeating the Totalitarian Lie: A Former Hitler Youth Warns America"

Then when he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand (the Great Depression). Slowly but surely he seized the controls of German state power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids were forced to join a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think and how to behave. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating and installing gun control to disarm the folks, health care for all, better wages, better jobs and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe and across the world – none of which he could have done with out compliant media, just like what we are suffering through now! Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.) Read your history books. "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" would be a good place to begin.

Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at and made fun of. When Winston Churchill

pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s, while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet prime minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. Please keep in mind that at that time Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, science laboratories and universities. And in less than six years, a shorter time span than just two terms of the U.S. presidency, it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course – the road to hell is always paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust, and it does!), I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong, close my eyes, have one more latte and ignore what is transpiring around me.

Some people scoff at me; others laugh or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid of "Veritas" or to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe – and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong, but I do not think I am. I firmly believe that history is man's best guide if only people will study it. Since many of you enjoy senior citizen status or will sometime in the not too distant future, I thought you might be interested in this. Let me add that we seniors have a target on our backs; the powers to be feel we are not cost effective. So it would be in the nations best interest to let us fade away even with help if found necessary. I sincerely hope time will prove me wrong.

CNN finally 'fires' Lou Dobbs! Bill Press has mixed feelings about network's new ban on talk-radio hosts

What conspiracy theory? Exclusive: Joseph Farah says it's the mockers of 'birthers' who lack evidence

Unhealthy for liberty Exclusive: Alan Keyes urges Americans to resist president's socialized medicine

Plan B: Go negative on health care reform Drug, insurance companies preparing to fight Obamacare

Join nearly 500,000 seeking eligibility proof Americans demand Obama live up to U.S. Constitution

Obama's environmental czar started group targeting Beck Attacks follow Fox News host's reporting of White House adviser's radical activism

New FCC official: 'Fairness Doctrine never repealed' Seeks $250 million fines from radio stations, money to go to National Public Radio

(Analyst's note: Absolutely must read item. This is extremely troubling. We can see clearly the intent to control free speech here within these United States. Remember - if you're up for reelection, you're out. And take your Czars with you.)

Is Obama constitutionally eligible to serve? WND's complete archive of news reports on the issue

Cap and trade's unlikely critics: Its creators Economists behind original concept question system's large-scale usefulness

Hezbollah waiting for orders to attack Sleeper cells in South, Central America ready for action

Audio - Michigan congressman: Moving Gitmo inmates 'bad idea' President's plan to house terrorists 'ill-advised strategy'

Audio - Obama plan needs '$13,000/family' tax hike President's deficits are going to continue 'as far as eye can see'

Obama criticizes media coverage of town halls Tells Montana gathering none of claimed insurance nightmares will come true

Senators exclude end-of-life provision from bill

WASHINGTON – Key senators are excluding a provision on end-of-life care from health overhaul legislation after language in a House bill caused a furor.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that the provision had been dropped from consideration because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly. ....

Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash Violent Signs, Gun, Standoff Latest in Emerging Anger Towards the President

Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama, especially as the debate over health care intensifies and a pattern of threats emerges. ....

EMPTY CRADLES, DEMOGRAPHIC DESTINY & THE DEATH OF THE WEST

(Analyst's note: These facts are more than a little troubling. Our radical Islamic enemy will soon simply over-run us, if these trends continue. History shows this to be a very hard lesson indeed.)

By Selwyn Duke

While the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding was good cinema, it was also a big fat Hollywood fiction. With Greece’s fertility rate of 1.36 children per woman — well below the replacement level of 2.1 — “big” is not a modifier demographers would associate with today’s Greek families. In fact, a more accurate film might be called My Big Fat Muslim Wedding.

Worse still, Greece is no anomaly. Long ago the cradle of Western civilization and more recently one of its backwaters, it’s now part of a phalanx of Western demographic failures. In fact, while it may seem counterintuitive to those weaned on the stuff of Malthusian nightmares, the West is facing a population implosion of historic proportions. And the statistics are staggering. As I wrote when reviewing the documentary Demographic Winter last year:

. . . the number of children in the world is already declining . . . . Birthrates are now below replacement level . . . in approximately 70 countries; in Western Europe, the figure is 1.38, and in northern Italy and parts of Spain it is below 1. As a result, Europe's 65-year-olds now outnumber her 14-year-olds, and one German province had to close 220 schools in 2006. Children were present in 80 percent of U.S. households a century ago; that number is now 32 percent.

Although pondering demographic malaise conjures up the image of sterile Western swingers, note that this phenomenon is, in a measure, manifesting itself worldwide. Take Eastern Europe, for example. Russia, with its birthrate of 1.4 children per woman, is experiencing a population decrease of 700,000 a year. With an even lower birthrate of 1.22, some Lithuanian officials are concerned about the eventual disappearance of their population. And this is mirrored in other Eastern European nations; Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and the rest are all turning in similar numbers. ....

.... When I ponder our materialism, promiscuity, frivolity and selfishness, our abortion-mill archipelago that churns with Nazi-like efficiency, it occurs to me that perhaps the leftists are right — just not for the reasons they think. It’s not sins of our past that haunt us but those of our present, and maybe the euthanizing of Western civilization is, after all, our comeuppance.


The “Second American Revolution”

(Analyst's note: It seems to me that this article is "spot on." Mr. Celente has tied the dots together and is reporting what our politicians will learn either the hard way (if you're up for reelection, you're out) or the easy way (they understand before it is too late. The American people will not be denied. Yes, this is an absolutely must read article.)



By Gerald Celente

America is seething. Not since the Civil War has anything like this happened. But the protests are either being intentionally downplayed or ignorantly misinterpreted.
The first shot was fired on April 15, 2009. Over 700 anti-tax rallies and “Tea Parties” erupted nationwide. Rather than acknowledge their significance, the general media either ignored or ridiculed both protests and protestors, playing on “tea bagging” for its sexual innuendo.

Initially President Obama said he was unaware of the tea parties. The White House later warned they could “mutate” into something “unhealthy.”

Shot #2 was fired on the Fourth of July, when throngs of citizens across the nation gathered to again protest “taxation without representation.” And as before, the demonstrations were branded right-wing mischief and dismissed.

The third volley, fired in early August, was aimed point blank at Senators and House members pitching President Obama’s health care reform package to constituents. In fiery town hall meetings, enraged citizens shouted down their elected representatives. It took a strong police presence and/or burly bodyguards to preserve a safe physical space between the politicians and irate townspeople.

The White House and the media have labeled protestors “conservative fringe elements,” or as players in staged events organized by Republican operatives that have been egged on by Fox news and right-wing radio show hosts.

In regard to this latest wave of outbursts, health industry interests opposed to any reform are also being blamed for inciting the public. But organized or spontaneous is not the issue. While most protestors exhibit little grasp of the complex 1000 page health care reform document (that nary a legislator has read either), their emotion is clearly real and un-staged.

Rightly or wrongly, the legislation is regarded as yet another straw on the already overloaded camel’s back. A series of gigantic, unpopular government-imposed (but taxpayer-financed) bailouts, buyouts, rescue and stimulus packages have been stuffed down the gullet of Americans. With no public platform to voice their opposition, options for citizens have been limited to fruitless petitions, e-mails and phone calls to Congress … all fielded by anonymous staff underlings.

Now, with Congress in recess and elected representatives less than a stone’s throw away, the public is exploding. The devil is not in the details of the heath care reform, the devil is the government mandating health care. Regardless of how the plan is pitched or what is being promised, to the public the legislation is yet another instance of big government taking another piece out of their lives and making them pay for it; again telling them what they can or cannot do.

Though in its early stages, the “Second American Revolution” is underway. Yet, what we forecast will become the most profound political trend of the century – the trend that will change the world – is still invisible to the same experts, authorities and pundits who didn’t see the financial crisis coming until the bottom fell out of the economy.

Trend Forecast: Conditions will continue to deteriorate. The global economy is terminally ill. The recession is in a brief remission, not the early stages of recovery. Cheap money, easy credit and unrestrained borrowing brought on an economic crisis that cannot be cured by monetary and fiscal policies that promote more cheap money, easy credit and unrestrained borrowing.

Nevertheless, Washington will continue to intervene, tax and exert control. Protests will escalate and riots will follow.

Fourth Shot of the “Second American Revolution”: While there are many wild cards that could light the fuse, The Trends Research Institute forecasts that if the threat of government-forced Swine Flu vaccinations is realized, it will be the fourth shot. Tens of millions will fight for their right to remain free and unvaccinated.

Publisher’s Note: The power of the Internet and new technologies is inexorably fermenting the “Second American Revolution.” However widespread and emotionally charged, had the tax rallies, tea parties and healthcare reform protests occurred in years past, they might have been covered by the local media, but might not have made national headline news and thus would have died stillborn.

Now, with the ubiquitous camera-equipped cell phone, universal access to YouTube, and millions of twitters and tweets, the uprisings cannot be ignored, contained, managed, spun or edited down. The revolutionary fervor will prove contagious.

Can anything stop it?

Trend Forecast: Before the momentum of the “Second American Revolution” becomes unstoppable, it could be derailed through some false flag event designed to deceive the public, or a genuine event or crisis capable of rallying the entire nation behind the President. In a worst-case scenario, according to Trends Research Institute Director, Gerald Celente, “Given the pattern of governments to parlay egregious failures into mega-failures, the classic trend they follow, when all else fails, is to take their nation to war."

A false flag attempt, a genuine crisis, or a declaration of war, may slow the momentum of the “Second American Revolution,” but nothing will stop it.


Please learn more about The Trends Research Institute by visiting the www.TrendsResearch.com Website.

N.J. Law Would Require Monthly School Homeland Security Drills

... A bill that is expected to enter the New Jersey Senate, would mandate that all public and nonpublic schools in the state of New Jersey to conduct monthly school security drills. If passed by the Senate, students and faculty would be required to practice emergency response procedures such as non-fire evacuation, lockdown and active shooter response drills. ....

Feds try to detect 'lone offenders'

Federal authorities have launched an effort to detect lone attackers who may be contemplating politically charged assaults similar to the recent murders of a Kansas abortion doctor and a Holocaust museum security guard.

The effort, known as the "Lone Wolf Initiative," was started shortly after President Obama's inauguration, in part because of a rising level of hate speech and surging gun sales.

READ INDICTMENT: U.S. v. Von Brunn

"Finding those who might plan and act alone, the so-called lone offenders ... will only be prevented by good intelligence, the seamless exchange of information among law enforcement at every level, and vigilant citizens reporting suspicious activity," said Michael Heimbach, the FBI's assistant director for counterterrorism.

Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said the FBI is sharing information with his agency.

Agents from all of the FBI's 56 field offices have been dispatched on a range of assignments, said two U.S. law enforcement officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about details of the program. Among the duties:

Reviewing records in domestic terrorism investigations that may point to more suspects.

Analyzing records for suspicious purchases at fertilizer or chemical suppliers whose materials could be used in bombmaking.

Checking rolls of prisoners scheduled for release or who have been recently released for past links to extremist groups.

One of the goals, FBI officials said, is to develop more comprehensive information on possible lone attackers to disrupt plots before they are launched. ....

Five Things Congress and the President Are Doing to Bring Back Sky-High Gas Prices

(Analyst's note: This is troubling to contemplate.)

by Ben Lieberman

Gasoline prices are up since the start of the year, but the summer of 2009 has thus far been a bargain at the pump compared to a year ago when prices exceeded $4 a gallon. However, the respite from sky-high prices is likely temporary.

A return to $4 a gallon gas--or higher--will be made even more certain if Congress and the President succeed in enacting a host of proposals to crack down on domestic energy supplies. Instead, the federal government should support several pending pro-domestic energy measures that would help meet the nation's growing demand in the years ahead.

1. Pump price-boosting global warming legislation. ....

2. Regulation of hydraulic fracturing....

3. Increased red tape and costs on domestic drilling. ....

4. Raising energy taxes ....

5. Administrative delays on drilling.

What to Do Instead ....

Town halls burst with Obama 'plants' Campaign donors, health care lobbyist, SEIU members, fake doctor

National Guard reveals 'internment' job sites overseas

Thursday, August 13, 2009

CNN: "Humiliation" causes jihad terrorism

by Robert Spencer

Jihad doctrine and Islamic supremacism? Pah!

Of course, this is the kind of thinking that leads Obama to believe that if he reaches out with enough flattery and concessions, the jihad will end. He is in for a surprise.

"Experts: Many young Muslim terrorists spurred by humiliation," by John Blake for CNN, August 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):

[...] People often assume that Muslim youth who turn to violence are ill-educated fanatics inspired by visions of meeting virgins in paradise. But that portrait is rarely true, terror experts say.

Actually, they're well-educated fanatics. Studies show that jihadists are generally better educated than their peers.

"They are not crazy people," says James Jones, author of "Blood That Cries Out From the Earth," a book that examines the psychology of religious terrorism.

"They [terrorist groups] won't recruit psychotic people," Jones says. "Crazy people are unstable. That's exactly what you don't want."

Indeed. They're not crazy. They're driven.

Then who are these Muslim men and women who turn to violence? Terror experts say they are shaped by several common factors.

They see no way up or out

Fathali M. Moghaddam, director of the conflict resolution program at Georgetown University in Washington, says some Muslim youth may embrace violent causes because they believe they have no chance for upward mobility in their country.

"Imagine if you're a 20-year-old and you want to get on in Egypt or Saudi Arabia," Moghaddam says. "You better be connected by family or know somebody important."

That explains why there are so many Haitian suicide bombers.

Many don't view politics as a plausible vehicle for social change, Moghaddam says. Their countries are often run by dictators who crush secular opposition groups -- with the tacit support of the U .S. government, these youth believe, Moghaddam says.

The only opposition groups that these Middle East dictators dare not attack are those based in the mosque, Moghaddam says. Those mosque-based groups, though, tend to be open to the influence of fundamentalists.

"There's no opportunity for voice, no opportunity to express yourself," Moghaddam says. "Politics is out of the question for the secular opposition -- you're either dead or go to jail."

Politics, though, is part of the answer for Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist group that rules Gaza. The group, which has admitted responsibility for attacks against Israel soldiers and civilians, won a landslide victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election.

"Some young people are inevitably attracted to the more risky positions and actions taken by a group such as Hamas because Hamas is critical of corrupt and inept dictators in the Arab world," Moghaddam says. "This resonates with Arab youth."

They're driven by a sense of humiliation

Some Muslim youth may turn to violence for another reason: revenge.

Basel Saleh, an assistant economics professor at Radford University in Virginia, recently studied the socioeconomic factors that helped shape 82 Palestinian suicide bombers and 240 militants.

He says he knows those factors firsthand.

Saleh's father's village was razed by the Israelis in 1948 and is now an Israeli settlement. He says he grew up in the West Bank where he once considered using violence to vent his anger after a group of Israeli soldiers came to his family's home unannounced and interrogated him while his younger sister cried.

"But I was on the verge of getting there," he says. "I almost crossed that line."

Most Palestinian youth who did cross that line weren't driven by religion, Saleh says.

"Many weren't motivated by Islamic fundamentalism," Saleh says of the Palestinian militants in his study. "They were motivated primarily by personal grievances. They had been arrested, shot or seen family arrested."...

Arrested, shot -- for what? For participating in the...jihad against Israel.

But it's all because Palestinians are oppressed, you see:

Saleh says if Israel did more to help improve Palestinians' living conditions, fewer Palestinian youths would turn to violence.

"You have to open a new path for them [Palestinians]," he says. "They want freedom of movement. Give them an airport, a port. Don't demolish their schools and their universities. Pay attention to basic human rights."...

Propaganda. For the facts, see here.

Jones says the appeal of terrorist groups taps into an even deeper yearning in many youth, no matter their religion or culture: the desire to give one's self to a transcendent cause.

Jones, who joined civil rights demonstrations in the South during the 1960s, says he knows how exhilarating it can be for young people to join a cause that they believe demands some form of sacrifice.

Any effort to turn Muslim youth away from violent groups must make a similar appeal, and come from fellow Muslims, Jones says.

"We need something that has an equal amount of passion and moral seriousness that makes them believe they are making the world better," he says. "We need something with those elements but something that's more constructive than blowing yourself up."

You'll never get that without addressing the roots of the jihad violence in a serious manner.

Fighting Fraud in Afghanistan's Elections

KABUL -- Afghanistan's presidential election next week is proving to be a complicated exercise in democracy. A raging insurgency threatens to close voting centers. Some of the 38 candidates maintain ties to armed militias. Others have threatened violence if they lose. And reports of widespread fraud endanger the poll's credibility. ....

Border Guard plan has hit a roadblock

WASHINGTON - A government plan to use National Guard troops to help stem Mexican drug violence along the Southern border is stymied by disagreements over who will pay for the soldiers and how they would be used.

Ordered by President Obama in June to help secure the border with Mexico, the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department drafted a $225 million plan to deploy temporarily 1,500 Guard troops to supplement Border Patrol agents.

The agencies are wrangling over how to structure the deployment, but the primary sticking point is the money, senior administration officials say.

The funding stalemate lingers even after Obama renewed his commitment to Mexican officials Monday to reinforce the border and to help Mexico battle the drug cartels. Fierce battles between Mexican law enforcement and the cartels have left as many as 11,000 people dead and fueled concerns about violence spilling into this country.

"The United States will also meet its responsibilities by continuing our efforts to reduce the demand for drugs and continuing to strengthening the security of our shared border," Obama said.

Meanwhile, state leaders are getting antsy. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is still waiting for a response to his request for 1,000 more troops. "It's a federal responsibility but a Texas problem," Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said.

Early drafts of the Pentagon's plan seek reimbursement for its costs of the program, which is slated to last one year, giving the Border Patrol time to build up its force of agents. The Homeland Security Department, which expects to get roughly $44 billion in its 2010 budget compared with the Pentagon's $636 billion, is also reluctant to bear the costs.

Military officials have also balked at having a highly visible uniformed presence at border crossings. An initial Pentagon draft was rejected by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates because it suggested that Guard troops could be used to help screen commercial vehicles at the border. Defense leaders have insisted the United States avoid any appearance of militarizing the border, and they are opposed to using the soldiers at entry points to openly inspect vehicles.

Defense officials have been uneasy about the Guard plan from the start, insisting the effort be temporary and not tied to any program that could be extended or made permanent. They are also concerned that while the program would be federally funded, Guard members would be under the control of the border states.

Pentagon officials have grumbled that the latest demands come as the United States is still fighting two wars, including an escalation of fighting in Afghanistan, and that Guard units are still needed for battlefield duties

A new draft that drops those border inspections from the list of Guard missions has been prepared, and a senior official said Gates and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano agreed on that move. Other debates have involved where the soldiers would be stationed and what tasks they would perform.

"The two agencies are resolving a handful of issues that remain," said Paul Stockton, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for homeland defense.

One senior official said a resolution to the matter was still some weeks away. There are about 19,500 border patrol agents, with roughly 17,200 on the Southern border.

Taliban, Foes Clash In Pakistan

Taliban fighters attacked rival militants backed by the government in Pakistan's tribal areas, sparking clashes that intelligence officials and tribal elders said left dozens dead.

There were few details of Wednesday's fighting, on the edge of the isolated South Waziristan tribal area, a key Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold.

Two intelligence officials in the area said it began when the region's dominant Taliban faction -- whose leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was believed to have been killed last week in a U.S. missile strike -- attacked a tribal faction backed by the government. The two sides battled in and around the village of Sura Ghar with assault weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, the officials said. One official said Pakistani forces tried to help the government-backed militants repel the Taliban, but gave no details.

One intelligence official put the death toll near or above 70 while the other put it at less than 30, all of them fighters. Both acknowledged that authorities didn't yet have a clear reading of the situation. The fighting raged for five hours, an intelligence official told the Associated Press.

The leader of the government-backed faction, Turkistan Bitani, said 90 fighters were killed and more than 40 houses destroyed after Mehsud loyalists attacked his men, the AP reported.

The fighting came as the Pakistan Taliban try to stem infighting among their ranks following Mr. Mehsud's apparent death. He was instrumental in uniting a number of competing militant groups in 2007 to form the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an offshoot of the Afghan Taliban. Government officials and tribal elders in South Waziristan said members of Mr. Mehsud's faction may have attacked their government-backed rivals in an effort to keep the group united.

U.S. and Pakistani officials say they are almost certain that Mr. Mehsud was killed a week ago by a missile fired from a U.S. pilotless drone. The Taliban have denied he is dead.

US military team in Syria for security talks

(AFP)

DAMASCUS — A senior American military delegation arrived in Syria on Wednesday for talks on regional security, the second such visit in nearly two months, a US diplomatic source said.

Major General Michael Moeller of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) is heading the delegation which also includes Frederic Hof, the deputy to US Middle East special envoy George Mitchell who was in Damascus on July 26.

"The focus is on continuing dialogue concerning opportunities for cooperation on regional security matters," the US source said, without elaborating.

A US military delegation held talks with Syrian officials in Damascus in June -- the first visit of its kind since 2004 -- pro-government media and the American embassy said at the time.

Al-Watan newspaper said the June 13 visit came "at the request of the Americans" and focused on "ways to begin cooperation on security matters between the two parties in Iraq." However, the US embassy did not mention Iraq. ....

NIST publishes final version of new cybersecurity recommendations for government

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the final version of ‘NIST Special Publication 800-53, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations’. The document was released in draft form for public review in June.

This final publication represents a solidification of the partnership between the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and NIST and their efforts to bring common security solutions to the federal government and its support contractors,” said Ron Ross, of NIST’s computer security division. “The aim is to provide greater protection for federal information systems against cyber attacks.”

Comments received from the public since June did not result in any major changes in the final publication.

Historically, information systems at civilian agencies have operated under different security controls than military and intelligence information systems. When complete, the unified framework will result in the defense, intelligence and civil communities using a common strategy to protect critical federal information systems and associated infrastructure.

A copy of the publication is available here as a PDF.


GOP congressional hopeful says post-9/11 intelligence efforts have fallen way short

By Dan Popkey

Republican congressional candidate Vaughn Ward on Wednesday criticized the Bush administration and a Congress then controlled by Republicans for failing to consolidate intelligence services earlier this decade.

Ward, a former CIA employee and Marine officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is seeking the nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick in 2010.

Ward said turf battles between the CIA, Pentagon, National Security Agency and other agencies compromise the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence.

"There's no sharing of information," Ward told the Rotary Club of Southwest Boise. "Why? They don't get along. There's these fiefdoms, their ideas of separate entities. They need to work more together."

"What should we do? Force them to work together, have one person in charge of intelligence, not four or five," Ward added.

Ward said battles between former Bush officials — including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet — frustrated efforts at reform that should have been made after 9/11. Instead, President Bush and Congress created the Department of Homeland Security.

"It was terrible, it's been a terrible experience with DHS," Ward said. "It is getting better, but only because there's legislation now trying to figure it out. And yes, it will get better, and I hope that it will be a more effective resource."

Report forecasts need for more Defense Department budget cuts

Facing the prospect of several lean years after a decade of rapidly expanding budgets, the Defense Department will need to make difficult spending decisions, potentially including more cuts to weapons systems in FY11 and beyond, according to a report.

Today's report from the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments concluded that an expected flat-line in defense spending - combined with anticipated growth in personnel costs - will restrict growth in research and development and in procurement accounts.

The Army, for instance, is enlarging its troop strength by 22,000 soldiers over the next three years, with an annual price tag around $1 billion. Meanwhile, healthcare costs across all the services, which total $47 billion next fiscal year, are expected to nearly double in the next 10 years, according to the report.

"Options for dealing with the tightening budget situation are limited," the report says. "In the coming years, pressure will likely continue to grow for DOD to scale back its plans, including both major modernization efforts and force structure plans."

The Defense Department's budget request for FY10 totals $668 billion, which includes $130 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the $538 billion base budget marks a 3.4 percent real increase in spending over the amount appropriated this year for the department, future budgets are expected to grow only slightly more than the rate of inflation.

Projections of more cuts to military hardware come as Congress continues to grapple with changes Defense Secretary Gates proposed to dozens of procurement programs for FY10, including the termination of some high-profile programs such as the manned ground vehicle portion of the Army's Future Combat Systems.

Pentagon officials are reviewing their budgetary options during the congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review of military capabilities and requirements. Already, officials estimate that they need $50 billion to $60 billion worth of technological "enhancements" over the next five years - meaning cuts will have to come in other areas.

Todd Harrison, author of the CSBA report, says he expects programs that have limited missions or purposes - such as the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle -- to become targets for cuts. More versatile programs needed for conventional and unconventional warfare are more likely to be safe from the budgetary ax, he said.

"Whatever path is selected, effectively addressing the growing cost of DOD's plans and the growing size of the federal deficit will require making some hard decisions," the report says. "And the sooner those decisions are made the less painful they will be to carry out."

Why Are Afghans Smiling?

by Carol Graham

Afghanistan has been at war more or less continuously for more than 30 years. The country has been invaded and effectively destroyed multiple times. With frequent reports of clashes and strife over the upcoming presidential election, most polls depict Afghans on the brink of an abyss and cite growing frustration with the violence, the United States and the international community. But research we conducted this year reveals that, relative to international norms, Afghans remain surprisingly happy. And unless we understand what makes Afghans so counterintuitively cheerful, we are unlikely to ultimately win their "hearts and minds." .... a U.S. strategy focused on violence and security and directed at the Taliban or at drug lords may not match Afghan concerns.

Outside View: National security in the 21st century

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Last Sunday Barack Obama's national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, made the television morning talk show rounds. Perhaps the most provocative question fired at him was why he was playing a far less visible -- and critics would add even an invisible -- role than his more famous predecessors such as Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Jones' answer was simple and direct as befitting a former commandant of the Marine Corps and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

"This is a different century," Jones calmly replied, meaning that however tough and dangerous the major issues were in the past, in today's more complex and complicated world, new ideas, tools, methods and organizational schemes were crucial both inside and out of government. That understanding is far more important than the visibility of the personalities who have sat in his White House office. ....

Terrorists kidnap, torture boy to bully Iraqi policeman

Finance Committee to drop end-of-life provisions

Obama's environmental czar started group targeting Beck Attacks follow Fox News host's reporting of White House adviser's radical activism

By Aaron Klein


Van Jones

President Obama's "green jobs

czar" is co-founder of an African-American activist organization that has led a campaign prompting major advertisers to withdraw from Glenn Beck's top-rated Fox News Channel program.

In recent weeks, Beck has done several critical segments about Van Jones, who was appointed as the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Beck's segments were based in part on WND's reporting that Jones was as an admitted radical communist and black nationalist leader.

Now Colors of Change, an activist organization seeking to "strengthen Black America's political voice" has led a furious campaign against Beck culminating in major companies such as Geico and Lawyers.com pulling their spots from the Fox News star's daily show. The group also says it has garnered about 75,000 signatories for an online petition against Beck to be sent to advertisers.

Colors of Change says the controversy stems from Beck's recent comment while a guest on another Fox News show that Obama is a "racist" with "a deep-seated hatred for white people."

Bill Shine of Fox News' programming department clarified Beck was expressing "a personal opinion which represented his own views, not those of the Fox News Channel. And as with all commentators in the cable news arena, he is given the freedom to express his opinions."

Colors of Change did not return a WND request for comment about whether its crusade is tied to Beck's recent reporting about Van Jones' radical connections.....

Warning over US cash-for-clunkers scheme

The popular US cash-for-clunkers programme may be drawing money from other consumer purchases and could also undermine future car sales, US economists have warned. ....

Sarah Palin: Concerning the "Death Panels"

National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot

An exchange with an Islamic scholar here in the U.S.

This is a most interesting exchange. sharia

Map of Potentially Impacted States if 2010 Census Doesn't Ask About Citizenship Status

(Analyst's note: You absolutely must read this article. Is it just me, or do you see a long-term plan emerging by the democrats currently in power. Hmm-m-m-m. Once again we need to follow the "rule book." Our Constitution talks about how our "Representatives" numbers are established. Our "Representatives" do NOT represent non-citizens, so once again "We the People" must stand up and demand to be properly representative inaccordance with our Constitution. Remember the rule -- if you're up for reelection, your out. )

By cchmielenski

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal identified states that could have fewer Representatives in the House if the 2010 census doesn't ask about citizenship status. The Constitutionally mandated count not only impacts the reapportionment in the House, but also the Electoral College.

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal identified states that could have fewer Representatives in the House if the 2010 census doesn't ask about citizenship status. The Constitutionally mandated count not only impacts the reapportionment in the House, but also the Electoral College.

LSU law professor John S. Baker and demographer Elliott Stonecipher called for a count of only citizens in their Wall Street Journal editorial. According to the most recent survey conducted by the American Community Survey, more than 7 percent of the nation's total population consists of non-citizens (including illegal aliens). Ten states have non-citizen populations higher than the national average, which could cause them to gain representation, while many other states could suffer.

In the article, Baker and Stonecipher referenced a quote from Census Bureau executive Dr. Elizabeth Greico who said the survey form that will be used for the 2010 census will not ask about citizenship because "Congress has not asked us to do that."

If the 2010 census doesn't ask for citizenship status, California's population of 5.6 million non-citizens would result in the Golden State keeping or gaining more than five seats in the House. Other states would have to lose seats to make up for California's win. Not only would the reapportionment impact Congressional representation, but it would also impact the electoral college for the 2012 presidential election.

Check out our map of states that will be impacted if the 2010 census counts non-citizens (including illegal aliens), and if your state could be negatively impacted, visit your Action Buffet for a fax to send to your three Members of Congress.

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Map of States Impacted if 2010 Census Doesn's Ask About Citizenship Status

The U.S. Constitution requires the federal government to count all Americans every 10 years for reapportioning seats in the House of Representatives. But the 2010 census will likely use a short survey form that doesn't ask individuals citizenship status. If this happens, it could cause an unfair distribution of House seats. States that contain a higher than average percentage of non-citizens could receive a disproportionately high number of House seats than states with a lower number of non-citizens.

The most recent American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau shows a total population of 298 million individuals living in the United States with more than 21 million being non-citizens. Counting only U.S. citizens would result in districts with approximately 635,000 people, whereby counting all individuals regardless of citizenship would create districts with more than 685,000 people. Therefore, the state of California that has 5.7 million non-citizen residents could gain five or more seats in the House.

In the map below, states colored in dark purple are likely to have fewer Representatives in the House if non-citizens (including illegal aliens) are included in reapportionment than if only citizens are considered. The states colored in lighter purple are vulnerable to having fewer. The states colored in orange are poised to benefit if non-citizens are included in apportionment.

Possible Winners/Losers after 2010 census
Map of Winners/Losers from possible 2010 census

Spencer: A Slow-Motion Honor Killing

by Robert Spencer

A seventeen-year-old girl from Ohio, Rifqa Bary, fears for her life today. She is afraid that her own parents will murder her. Her father, she explains, “said he would kill me. Or he’d have me sent back to Sri Lanka where they’d put me in the asylum.” Her crime in their eyes? She has converted to Christianity from Islam – bringing to the fore once again the prevalence within Islamic communities in the West of attitudes and beliefs that foster honor killings and the murder of apostates from Islam. Sharia

Rifqa has fled to Florida, where she has become the center of a bitter custody battle with her parents – and she herself is adamant that if she is forced to return to her parents, her life will be in danger: “if I had stayed in Ohio,” she says flatly, “I wouldn’t be alive.” If she is made to return, she says, “I will die within a week. My life is at stake. My dad threatened me.” Rifqa is under threat both because of Islam’s apostasy law and because, as she herself explains, by converting to Christianity she has besmirched the family’s honor: “in 150 generations of my family no one has known Jesus. I am the first one. Imagine the honor in killing me. There is great honor in that.

Rifqa appeared to be aware that many Westerners would be surprised to hear that she considers herself under the threat of death because of Islam’s stance toward those who leave the faith: “Islam,” she explained, “is very different than you guys think. They have to kill me. My blood is now halal, which means that because I am now a Christian, I’m from a Muslim background, it’s an honor. If they love God more than me, they have to do this. And I’m fighting for my life.

She might have had in mind the smooth deceptions that Imam Hatim Hamidullah of the Islamic Society of Central Florida spread Monday during his appearance at her custody hearing in Orange Circuit Court in Florida. “It is not Islam,” said Hamidullah, “for the father to bring harm upon his blood daughter or any other human being because of anger. Our position is to exhaust all measures that would bring peace and harmony back to the family. Being angry and threatening the life of someone is not one of those methods.” Hamidullah chose his words carefully: he didn’t actually say that Islam doesn’t prescribe the death penalty for apostasy. He just said that the father shouldn’t harm his daughter because he is angry with her. This leaves the door open for the father to murder his daughter for apostasy or honor, as long as he does it dispassionately....

The Creeping Homegrown Terror Threat

(Analyst's note: Absolutely must read.)

by Steven Emerson

The arrest of seven North Carolina residents, including Daniel Boyd and his two sons, on charges of supporting terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder abroad, showed how the problem of homegrown Islamic terrorism is far more rampant than the media or the public is aware of. Just look at the major cases in the past year alone:

  • The convert from Long Island who joined al Qaeda (disclosed this past week) and gave the group information about Long Island trains and New York City’s subways.
  • The plot to blow up two synagogues and a National Guard plane in upstate New York by prison converts (scheduled to go to trial).
  • The plot to kill hundreds of soldiers at Fort Dix by assimilated American Muslims living here 25 years (all convicted).
  • The plot to operate a terrorist training camp in Oregon (pleaded guilty).
  • The plot to blow up buildings by the Liberty City 7 (all convicted).
  • The sweeping conviction of Hamas officials for conspiring to support terrorism overseas.
  • The cases of young Somali teenagers raised in the U.S. going overseas to become suicide bombers.

The Boyd case in North Carolina proves that radical Islamic ideology transcends economic class problems as has been claimed by pointy-headed sociologists. The Boyd family was white, had a middle-class existence, and had the economic opportunities afforded all Americans — just like most of the terrorists cited above — and yet chose to engage in jihad to the point that Daniel Boyd was willing to send his two kids on suicide missions to Israel.

That the FBI stopped all these plots is amazing, but they will never continue to bat a thousand. One of these days, the jihadists will succeed. ....

Audio -- Analysis: Government access to bank accounts worrying 'Does it become more invasive later? Is it harmless?'

(Analyst's note: At best this is a troubling point regarding the proposed health care bill that has the American people so upset at the moment. The impact must be carefully explored and understood by the voter BEFORE any vote by "our representatives" in Washington. Remember, if they are up for reelection, they are voted out.)

Muslim radicals behead Christian orphan workers Militant linked to al-Qaida tells families of penalties for apostasy

By Bob Unruh

Four Christians working in Somalia to provide services to orphans have been executed by beheading by al-Qaida-linked interests who told their families that is the penalty for apostasy.

The report on the outrage comes from International Christian Concern, which said the executions took place sometime after the kidnapping of the Christians July 27, but it only discovered the tragedy recently.

The organization identified the Christian orphanage workers as Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma'ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi and Maaddey Diil. They had been kidnapped in the coastal Somalian town of Merca, about 50 miles from Mogadishu.

According to ICC, al-Shabaab, an Islamic extremist organization, claimed responsibility and said the Christians were killed when they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus.

The ICC report said a junior al-Shabaab militant notified the families Aug. 4 the four were beheaded for apostasy. ICC said the militant described the Christians as promoters of "fitna," a Muslim term for religious discord.

Audio -- Retired general: Focus on the fight, Mr. President! 'He cannot even articulate that it is a global war against radical Islam'

(Analyst's note: Absolutely must read - hear. Perhaps even more important than even this rating implies.)

Obama's 'green jobs czar' worked with terror founder Van Jones served on board of activist group where ex-Weatherman serves as top director

By Aaron Klein


Jeff Jones was wanted by the FBI after he failed to appear for a March 1970 court date to face charges of "crossing state lines to foment a riot"

JERUSALEM – Van Jones, the man appointed as "green jobs czar" to the White House, previously served on the board of an environmental activist group at which a founder of the Weather Underground terrorist organization is a top director.

WND previously reported Jones was as an admitted radical communist and black nationalist leader.

He was appointed to serve as the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. According to the White House blog, Jones' duties include helping to craft job-generating climate policy and to ensure equal opportunity in the administration's energy proposals.

Jones, formerly a self-described "rowdy black nationalist," boasted in a 2005 interview with the left-leaning East Bay Express that his environmental activism was a means to fight for racial and class "justice."

Jones was president and founder of Green For All, a nonprofit organization that advocates for building a so-called inclusive green economy.

Until recently, Jones was a longtime member of the board of Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor, business, environmental and community leaders that claims on its website to be "working to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs." ....